Elshorbagy & Gawad Set Up All-Egyptian World Championship Semi

World No.1 Mohamed Elshorbagy and compatriot Karim Abdel Gawad will face off for a place in the final of the 2016 Wadi Degla PSA Men's World Championship after overcoming world No.6 Ali Farag and three-time winner Nick Matthew, respectively, on the opening day of quarter-final action at the Wadi Degla Club in Cairo.

Elshorbagy kept his title charge intact after avenging a semi-final defeat to Farag in front of the iconic Great Pyramid of Giza in September, coming through a feisty encounter to move to within one win of a third World Championship final appearance.

The tournament top seed - a runner-up to fellow Egyptian Ramy Ashour in 2012 and 2014 - took the match 11-8, 11-5, 11-8 in 45 minutes, but it wasn't without its controversy as both players let their frustrations with each other boil over.

"It's a physical sport, things can get tough at times, you can't help it," said Elshorbagy. "You have to be tough to be at the top of the rankings. Nick [Matthew] and Greg Gaultier are great examples of that, as is Ramy [Ashour].

"It's just part of the sport and you have to deal with that. Other than that, we were both aggressive, but I don't think either of us took excessive space. I felt I played in the right spirit, the way that I needed to win and I'm just glad that I played fair."

In-form world No.3 Gawad will appear in the semi-final stage of the illustrious tournament for the first time in his career after overcoming a struggling Matthew.

Gawad - who broke into the world's top 3 this month - lost out to the Englishman three weeks ago at the US Open, with the duo serving up a superb match in Philadelphia.

But Matthew was hampered by illness and, despite battling on, struggled to move freely - allowing Gawad to take a comfortable 11-9, 11-4, 11-9 victory in just 34 minutes to set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash with Elshorbagy.

"I feel great, over the moon, especially because I had a very slow start [to the tournament]," said Gawad.

"I was nearly out from the first round but I talked to [four-time World Champion] Amr [Shabana] and he told me to focus match by match. It's just baby steps, I'm focusing on each match before moving on to the next one. It's my first ever semi-finals in the World Championship.

"It's another dream for me [to reach the final] but I'm not putting any pressure on myself. I'm still 25 and I keep working on things. If it doesn't happen this time, I'll focus on next year."